The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, wrote this letter to the Galatians in order to counter the false teachings of the Judaizers. The Judaizers said that the law of the Mosaic Covenant was necessary to make the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant complete. In other words, they claimed our works are necessary to finish what faith began. So that while people, God's people enter into the covenant by faith, they stay in the covenant by their good works. But Paul argued that the law could not replace, nor could it supplement the promise that was given in the Abrahamic covenant, which is received by faith. But if that's true, the question then arises, why then is there the law? Well, Paul answers that question in chapter three and verse 19. It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator until the seed would come to whom the promises had been made. So what Paul argues there is that the law wasn't given to help us earn righteousness, but rather to demonstrate just how unrighteous we are, how hopelessly sinful we are. Chapter 3, verse 4 goes on, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. So again, the law reveals our sin to drive us to despair in ourselves, so that we would then turn to Christ, who is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise, the truly obedient one, so that through Him we might receive our inheritance. And in this, the gospel teaches that the perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. And so then the spirit continues to further work to transform us into the very image of Jesus Christ, which is portrayed as the fruit of the spirit. Now, Going up a couple of verses from our text, Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 declares that it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Legally speaking, only those who are not guilty of a crime can be free. If you murder someone, you may hide from the law and may enjoy that hide a certain level of liberty, but you'll always be forced to look over your shoulder because you know that the law is after you. You will never be truly free while you have to cover up or run from your crime. Only those who have no guilt to cover up, only those who have no guilt to run from, can truly be free. And here is the rub. Because you know that you have broken God's law. And the breaking of God's law demands the death penalty. But here Paul says that it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us. This really was one of the big center points of the Reformation. It was the center point of Paul's gospel. And it should be a central part of our lives. Now that word imputation comes to us from the Latin word imputare. which is a fun word to say if you ever have the mean to say it, the imputare. But it denotes the act of ascribing responsibility or blame of crimes to the author of those crimes. So again, legally, you broke the law. And therefore guilt is imputed to you and justice demands restitution. But the good news is, as our legal representative in the covenant, Jesus assumed our place. And so he undertook upon himself the demands of justice that were against us. Now, when we talk theologically of imputation, we first must need to understand that it is a forensic term. It is a legal term. And secondly, God deals with us legally through covenants. So within a covenantal relationship, God establishes a federal head. That federal head legally represents the whole. So in the covenant that was established with the first man, Adam was designated as the federal head. He represented all of his descendants. Romans chapter five, verse 12 brings us up. Well, just as through one man, sin entered into the world, death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sin. In other words, Adam represented us. in the covenant of works. And because he lived in that covenant of works as a federal head, he was our representative. And as he sinned, so we sin in him. We are constituted sinners in Adam. And because of that constitution, we each commit personal sins. Now, lest you think that's unfair, Let me point out that when Adam sinned, God then established a second covenant and gave another federal head. Again, since we are constituted as sinners by Adam's sin, even from conception we bear guilt. We can't save ourselves, can we? We can't earn righteousness. by our own efforts. Every good work we do comes from a bad root, comes from an evil root. It's every good work we do is still tainted with sin, still tainted with corruption. And so we would be in a very hopeless position except God made a covenant of grace where his son becomes another Adam. another federal representative for those who believe in him. And in that covenant of grace, we can see that my disobedience, my sin was imputed to Christ so that he himself then was federally constituted a sinner so that he could die in my place. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. This is a wonderful thing about covenant theology and how God has established covenants. God so unites Christ to us that He sees Christ in us. And that again enabled him then to bear the full weight of our guilt and die on the cross as our representative. Now, our sins have been now truly and fully dealt with according to divine justice. Jesus was our representative. He was, as it were, us. taking my punishment, the punishment that I deserve for all my lawbreaking, and when He was crucified on the cross, I was crucified with Him. I died because He died. I underwent divine justice because Jesus, my representative in the covenant, underwent divine justice. Because divine justice has been fully dealt with, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. So, what we saw was the first imputation. Adam's sin was imputed to us. The second imputation. My sin imputed to Christ. There is a third imputation. In the covenant of grace, God united Christ to us so that everything that is ours became His. My guilt became His guilt. He died the death of a sinner. But everything that is His became ours. Again, 2 Corinthians 5.21 states that He knew no sin. He was sinless. And the good news of the gospel is that sinlessness has now been imputed to you. It's been credited to you. You are now in Christ in a state of innocence. That's good news, isn't it? But even still being innocent, doesn't still give you the right to live in heaven. Romans 2 verse 13, it is not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Again, you need to be more than innocent. You need a positive obedience to the law before you can be declared righteous. Psalm 24, who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands. A pure heart who has not lifted up his soul through falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. See, it's doing the law. The righteousness of Christ's death has been imputed to us so that our sins now are cleansed, forever dealt with. Praise the Lord for that. but also his positive obedience, his active obedience under the law, his clean hands, his pure heart is now also accredited to us so that I am declared righteous and entitled to stand in heaven before God. You've heard that justification perhaps is just as if I've never sinned, and that's a truth. But it's even more than that. It's just as if I've always obeyed. And in this imputation of righteousness, our natures are not changed. Only our position has changed. Say again, Colossians chapter one, verses 13, 14 proclaims this. He rescued us from the domain of darkness, transferring us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom he had redemption and forgiveness of sins. What does this mean? It means that our standing before God is not based on our being made righteous from an internal change, but it's based on the fact that we are united to Christ's righteousness, that is, that we were transferred from darkness into Christ. We have a new address. See, this gives us a real assurance of standing in heaven, because we all can testify to this regeneration being declared righteous in justification, even my sanctification hasn't eradicated my old nature, I'm still up and down in faith. I'm still lukewarm in piety. I'm sometimes disobedient to God's law. There's no consistency in my life. So how can I have an assurance of going to heaven? Because again, my standing is based on what Christ has done. I'm in Christ. I may not be fully obedient, but Christ always is, and His righteousness covers me so that God sees me in Christ as one who is always obedient. That's the freedom we have in Christ. He has satisfied all the rigorous demands of the law. And so now the law cannot hold us in bondage because its demands have been fully and completely met, both in its justice and in the righteousness it expects from us. In Christ, I don't have to keep looking over my shoulder. The law has nothing on me. That's what Paul means here, that the law has nothing on us. We don't need to fear God. We can love him now because he has loved us. So the freedom of our justification means that there is a change in our status. But the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31, verse 33, is that God will put his law on our hearts. that on our hearts he will write his law, that he will be our God and we will be his people. And so what that says is that not only is there a change in my status in salvation, but that God now also works in my nature. In sin, in Adam, I was a son of the devil. I was in bondage to Satan and to the influences of the present evil age, but in Christ now I have been born again to be a son of God and under the influences now of the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit is now transforming me into the very image of Christ. And because of Christ's resurrection power and because of His glorious life being worked into me by the Spirit, Now, Paul says, we are enabled to resist and become more and more than a conqueror through Him who loves us. In this spirit-wrought liberty, we cry out, Abba, Father, with the assurance that our needs will be met because God is our Father. If we have free access to His throne of grace, we don't have to be subject to the fear of tomorrow, do we? Every adversity, every conflict, every trial, every tear you shed, every sigh you breathe, everything you go through is wholly now under the control of God for your benefit to bring you more and more into Christ's image. That's a wonderful freedom we have. The promise of Jeremiah 31, 33 says that it is God who writes his law in our hearts. It's God who affects this internal change in us. And since it is God's work, it cannot be added, it can't be added to by our own efforts. This glorious work is received by faith alone. Now, the fear of the Judaizer and other legalists is this. If righteousness is by faith alone and not by any work or effort that we do, then won't we become lazy? Won't our lives be then characterized by sin and not good works? See, the Judaizers said, that's why we need to continue teaching, that our works somehow contribute to our salvation. Because if we don't emphasize that, chaos will ensue. And that sounds plausible enough. In fact, it has been a very prevalent teaching for centuries. There would have been no need for a reformation if no one believed that. It's interesting, by the way, just as a point of interest, that the list that's there, verses 18 through 21, the deeds of the flesh, these are sins that were done by the Israelites while they were under the law. So you see, again, being under the law doesn't improve your efforts towards righteousness. That's Jeremiah's point to the new covenant. The law cannot justify you. The law cannot sanctify anyone who has a sinful nature. What needs to happen is that we be set free from that sinful nature by a new birth, where a new nature is born in us, a new nature that desires to please God. So not only do we have a new status, a new address, we're also given a new nature. Now we won't perfectly obey God in this life, but isn't there a holy desire? Holy yearnings? Romans 6 points it out like this. How can we who have died to sin live any longer in it? Our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. You see, it's the Holy Spirit who renews us into the image of Christ. And it's the Holy Spirit who is influencing us and making this change. It's the Holy Spirit transforming us into the image of Christ. So how can anyone who is in Christ with the Holy Spirit working be devoted to sin? See, that's Paul's point in verse 13. You are called to freedom. But do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another in love. Well, Paul argues also against the one who says, well, now that I'm free, I can do whatever I want. And I can do whatever I want, and God will still save me. That heresy is called antinomianism. But look at what Paul says in verse 24. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. That's just another way of saying what he said earlier in verses 13 and 14. You have been called to liberty, only do not use your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Because the law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You see, the gospel declares that saints are no longer slaves of sin, but now through Christ we have become slaves of righteousness. Why? Because Christ himself is a slave of righteousness. We are to act, Paul is arguing here, according to the holy nature of Christ that has been planted in us by the Holy Spirit. We're being formed into the very image of Jesus Christ. And in the moment that we believed in Christ, our sinful nature was actually crucified with Christ in death. When Jesus rose from the dead, we rose in newness of life with him. Paul says here, now if you're demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit, as he lists it here, there is no law to correct you because you're doing what the law requires. Well, there's so much more to say on this. But Paul brings out here that we are to walk by the Spirit. This differs from the Judaizer. They wanted to keep in step with the law of God. They were concerned with holiness, but they saw holiness only in terms of actions, only in terms of outward external works. But here Paul shows that holiness is an inward attitude that's produced by the Holy Spirit's working and empowered by His grace. So we keep in step with the Spirit who is renewing us in Christ's image. And with this, this is an important part of the sermon tonight, that the Holy Spirit seldom works in extraordinary ways, but rather He uses ordinary means to bring about this spiritual growth. So many Christians, unfortunately, are looking for some special experience of the Holy Spirit, and yet they miss the boat, because the Spirit usually works through the development of holy habits. And what is the most important holy habit that we can have? Coming to worship. Because again, the Spirit uses the reading, and the preaching of God's word. He uses the sacraments, he uses prayer, he even uses fellowship to grow us in holiness and love. The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, these are all ripened through habitual ways of thinking, feeling, and acting in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Again, Paul calls us the fruit of the Spirit to emphasize that this is not some form of self-sanctification through self-effort, but it's when we come under the Spirit's influence. Our identity is in Christ. We need then to stop talking about our strengths, and our victories, and we need to stop talking about our weaknesses and our failures. Our identity is in Christ. That doesn't mean that we simply let go and let God. No, we actively flee sin. We actively love one another. We actively bear one another's burdens. We actively dive to pride and to conceit. We actively stop challenging one another and envying one another. Identity is in Christ, and the Spirit is forming us again into His image the more we hear the gospel. And so, my friends, It is in your union with Christ that Paul is arguing that we grow. Being joined to Christ, the Spirit gives us the power to live the Christian life that we need to live. Again, we won't do it perfectly in this life, but because the Spirit is producing in us the image of Christ, that I know that one day I'll be just as he is, and with that hope, I keep putting one step ahead of the other, listening to what the Spirit says in his word, and living it out by his power. Let's pray. Lord, we come tonight asking you for grace, a grace that will help us to see our position in Christ, to see that we truly are free, free from sin, free from its condemnation, free from trying to earn our favor with you through our obedience. We are freed from all that because we already now have your favor because we're in Christ. Christ has earned that righteousness. for us, and we can do nothing to add one thing to it. But Lord, even as we look at our position in justification, our position in Christ, so Lord, we ask you by your spirit to continue flooding our hearts with your love, pouring that love into us so that Lord, we may be more obedient. that we may be more and more transformed by your spirit's working in his grace, that we might bear the very image of Jesus Christ and loving one another, bearing one another's burden, caring for one another, doing that which the flesh cannot do on its own. So Lord, we ask your growth, even Lord, as we come now to the Lord's table, amen.